Emergency crews spent almost an hour rescuing two young men whose kayak capsized late Tuesday afternoon in Pocono Creek behind Stroudsburg High School.

Shirtless and wearing life vests, Dean Vliet Jr. and Brandon Whitmore, both 20 of Stroudsburg, got stranded on a downed tree across the creek at about 6:40 p.m. when their kayak hit the tree and capsized farther downstream.

Recent rains had made the creek higher than normal, with a swift, dangerous current.

Bryan Chambers and John Rodriguez, both of Stroudsburg, were playing tennis on school grounds when they heard someone yelling for help.

"It was coming from the direction of the creek, so we ran over and saw these two guys stuck on a tree out in the middle," Chambers said. "They were yelling for help and telling us to call 911."

Police were not sure which was Vliet and which was Whitmore, but both were facing upstream.

One was wearing glasses and perched higher on the tree, more out of the water, with scratches on his back. The other appeared to be pinned in a lower position against the tree, more submerged in the water.

Pocono Creek flows between the school on one bank and the Ford car dealership on the other. By the time Chambers and Rodriguez spotted the stranded pair, other people on the Ford dealership side had seen them and already called 911.

"I grabbed my resuscitation mask and ran back down to the bank," said Rodriguez, a lifeguard at Camelbeach Resort in Tannersville.

"The first thing they teach us lifeguards is to survey the scene," he said. "If it looks too dangerous to attempt a rescue on your own, don't try. Wait for others. I saw they were too far out in the middle, and the water looked deep and was moving pretty fast where they were. So, I basically waited on the bank and tried to talk to them to keep them calm until help arrived."

Vliet and Whitmore were stranded closer to the higher, steeper bank on the Ford dealership side, where the water was deeper and swifter.

Rescuers saw right away they would have to get the pair out on the other bank, where the water was shallower, said Stroudsburg Fire Chief Mike Seip.

"The other thing we saw was that we couldn't use ropes to pull them out because there was a risk of the ropes getting snagged and tangled up," Search and Rescue Chief Bruce Barton said.

Instead, some of the firefighters and search and rescue personnel went downstream of where the men were stranded, tied ropes to trees on both banks and stretched the ropes across the creek.

Wearing dry and wet suits with swiftwater vests tethered to ropes, other rescuers then worked their way out to Vliet and Whitmore.

"The one who was pinned lower against the tree was the one we had to get out first because he was more submerged for a long period of time in that cold water," Barton said.

Rescuers got him free and let the current carry him downstream to where the other rescuers caught him with the ropes across the creek. They then did the same for the other.

Both shivering with their upper bodies wrapped in towels, Vliet and Whitmore were then brought out of the creek and escorted to an ambulance. Both were able to walk on their own and didn't appear injured, but were taken to Pocono Medical Center to get checked for mild hypothermia, police said.